Catholic Men’s Conference in crosshairs of left-wing activists

Christine Niles, a Vietnamese immigrant who helps run a parachurch organization in Michigan that promotes Roman Catholic teaching, expected to spend this week preparing theological materials and getting ready for the group’s annual conference for men.

Instead, Niles, who is editor-in-chief of Church Militant, has been in consultations with local law enforcement after learning that a left-wing group is drumming up support to shut down the conference, which will take place on Aug. 4-6 at locations in Ferndale and Sterling Heights, Mich.

“Police have reached out to both sides and will have patrol cars observing,” Niles told Fox News. “But we don’t know who the activists are associated with and we don’t know what will happen.”

The theological conference causing controversy, titled “Strength and Honor,” is billed as “offering talks on the essential role of sacrificial masculinity of Catholic men to be good husbands and fathers” and to equip attendees with tools to “gain the spiritual and mental tools to be strong leaders among the faithful.”

But according to the Michigan People’s Defense Network (MPDN), since the conference run by Church Militant — which adheres diligently to centuries-old Roman Catholic teaching — is exclusively for men, it “promotes a hateful, anti-woman message.”

And therefore it must be shut down.

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